“Even though July is a month in which fixed-term contracts usually expire, the jobless total has been falling, but not as fast as in the previous months,” the Slovenian Employment Service said.

In July, the number of newly registered unemployed was 7,156, which is a 17.7 percent increase over June – but a 3.3 percent drop year-on-year. 694 of them were first-time job seekers, 1,187 were redundant workers while 4,289 lost their jobs after their contracts expired.

Four regional employment offices recorded a rise in their unemployment rate in July: Nova Gorica, Novo mesto, Trbovlje and Sevnica. The employment offices in Kranj, Velenje and Murska Sobota posted the sharpest drops in Slovenia. On a yearly basis, every regional employment office registered a lower unemployment rate. Novo mesto, Kranj and Trbovlje have seen the biggest drops.

G. C.; translated by D. V.